


Pay It Forward

by Ribbons_Undone



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Coffee Shops, Fluff, Human AU, M/M, Random Acts Of Kindness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:55:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28745094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ribbons_Undone/pseuds/Ribbons_Undone
Summary: Dean believes he is having a bad day. Castiel believes in random acts of kindness. Neither of them believe in missed opportunities.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 8
Kudos: 42





	Pay It Forward

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! This is just something cute I thought up on the fly! Please enjoy! :3

* * *

Dean isn’t having the best day when he arrives at the coffee shop that morning. He’s late, and the crash on his normal route to his _normal_ coffee shop means a detour, which is how he ends up here instead. It takes precious time he doesn’t have, but he honestly doesn’t care. At this point he’s already late for work, and if he arrives _without_ coffee to hear Crowley bitch at him he’s gonna do something he regrets, like quit on the spot.

“Black coffee to go,” Dean tells the barista when he gets to the front of the line. He goes to pull his wallet out of his back pocket when—

“Sunofabitch.”

It’s not there. He _specifically_ remembers switching it just this morning from the jeans he wore yesterday, so it must have fallen out of his pocket in the car or on his way inside, or possibly in his garage...

As Dean is attempting to mentally account for all the places his lost wallet could be, the man behind him in line steps around him and starts to order over him.

“One café ole please,” the man says. Dean scowls at the back of his head. Guy didn’t even wait for him to tell the barista he didn’t have his wallet, he just moved in like Dean was taking up space or something. What a dick.

Soon as he thinks it, the man looks at him with bright blue eyes—the bluest Dean has ever seen—and a more or less neutral expression on his face. He looks vaguely intrigued by Dean.

“Will that be all, sir?” the barista asks him. She’s fed up with the way the line has stalled.

The man turns his attention back to the barista. 

“And one black coffee to go,” the man tells her. He hands her a ten.

Dean’s scowl grows. He stands there like a moron, still feeling obligated to tell the barista to cancel his order or to hold on a sec so that he can run to his car and look for his wallet. Course had he done that to begin with he could have been there and back already, but it’s too late for that now so Dean stands there wasting precious time for the barista to serve up this asshole’s coffee. The lucky bastard.

Said person drops a generous tip into the cup on the counter and scoops up his order in both hands. He turns and Dean takes a half-step forward toward the counter. He means to move around the guy and his coffee, but the guy stops in front of Dean and holds out one of the coffee cups.

“You forgot your wallet, right?” the man says. He gestures with the cup. “Here. It’s for you.”

Dean blinks rapidly, completely floored and at a loss for words. This whole time he’d been cursing this guy out and glaring daggers at the back of his head he was buying Dean coffee?

“Dude, you didn’t have to do that,” Dean blurts out in shock. Is this guy for real? Who _does_ stuff like this?

The stranger smiles at him.

“I know I didn’t have to. I did it anyway, because I wanted to.” The smile on his face grows. “Have you ever heard of pay it forward?” 

“Uh…yeah, I heard of it,” Dean says.

The man with the impossible blue eyes nods.

“Well. There you have it. Enjoy your coffee…?”

“Dean,” Dean scrambles to provide.

“Dean.” The man’s smile is soft as he says the sentence again, in completion. Not that he has to do that either, but he does it anyway. His already low voice drops even lower. “Enjoy your coffee, Dean.”

The rasp of it over Dean’s name is like curling his toes into sun-warmed gravel. A zing that no caffeine could ever parallel shoots through him.

“Um. Thanks. Uh..” Dean trails off, waiting for the stranger to reciprocate.

“Castiel.”

Dean echoes the name back at the guy to try out the strangeness of it on his tongue and make sure he is saying it right. At Castiel’s nod, Dean grins at him. “Thanks for the coffee, Cas.”

Dean pats him on the shoulder as he walks by, chuckling at the way Castiel blinks dazedly at the shortening of his name. “Maybe I’ll see you here again sometime. I promise to hit you back if I do,” he says. He lifts his coffee in salute.

“I—I come here every day,” Castiel blurts out. He turns on his heels so that he is facing Dean still as he heads for the door.

Dean flashes him a brilliant, toothy grin.

“Awesome. See you tomorrow.”

Of course that means he’ll be late for work again tomorrow, but…hell, it’ll be worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> Epilogue: 
> 
> Dean quits his job but he and Cas keep dating. :3
> 
> A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this!! Also, check out my tumblr [ Ribbons-Undone](ribbons-undone.tumblr.com) for rando updates on my current WIPS. (And lots and lots of destiel.) :Db
> 
> If you liked this, you might also like my longer human AU fic, [Angels In The Belfry](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25844206/chapters/62788753) (rated E)
> 
> For more fluff check out: [I Don't Want To Be Like Your Peanut Butter And Jelly](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27787831)
> 
> Also keep an eye out (Subscribe!?) for my new WIP called _The Necklace_ which is set post-finale and completes both the canon and what happened to Dean's necklace. (You'll never believe where it's been this whole time!!) :D
> 
> Also I love to hear what you have to say, so comment and let me know! :3


End file.
